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What are my birth choices?

When it comes to planning your birth, most women think about a "birth plan" which is documenting how you want the actual birth experience to be.

But there are some big decisions that need to be made even before you start thinking about the actual birth, and those decisions involve choosing the best birthing attendants (i.e. doctor/midwife/doula etc.), choosing where you will give birth, and choosing what kind of a birth you want (i.e. planned C-Section, all natural, waterbirth, where you want to labour, etc.).

Once you've decided what kind of a birth you want, and where you want to labour (i.e. water, in your bedroom, in a hospital bed, etc.) then you can begin thinking about what you want the actual birth to be like. Do you want the option to give birth squatting? Do you want the option of being able to give birth in the water?

There are a lot of different things to consider in planning your ideal birth, and this is the area to discuss those things.

For starters, take a look at the Birth Choices page to start learning about your choices (there are some you may not have even thought would be an option for you).

Then ask your questions and we'll support you in creating the birth experience that you want - the one that will be best for your unique circumstances.

Hi Kate, such an important thread to start, thank you! A great resource for women and their partners in Australia is the Choices for Childbirth information sessions. Choices for Childbirth is a not-for-profit organisation (branch of the Maternity Coalition) and they run information sessions to educate and support couples in making an informed choice for pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. Here is the link to their website for more information: http://www.choicesforchildbirth.org.au.

So often I see women come through my clinic that just don't have access to anything other than the information/experiences relayed to them by friends and family. It would be wonderful to make the informed choices and options more easily accessible!

For my next 'birth plan' I think I'm going to have an ideal birth plan (or ideal birth hopes) and then some plans for other options. For example, if I needed an unplanned c-section what would I want to happen then (e.g. my husband with me at all times, no talking when the baby was coming out, music in the room, some perfume to smell to try and make it less hospitalised). Then I can relax, knowing I've talked through all the options with my birthing partner.

Thanks for sharing these resources: the more informed we are the more likely we are able to have the birth we hope for.

Hi Ljmarsden, sounds like a plan That's the best thing about birth plans/ideas - you can discuss things that aren't 'in the plan' but may happen so that in the event that they do occur you and your partner don't have to make big decisions when you are definitely not in the right head space to do so!